The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) determined on June 1 that revoking the existing antidumping duty orders on frozen warmwater shrimp from China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time.
As a result of the Commission’s affirmative determinations, the existing orders on imports of this product from China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam will remain in place. The antidumping duty orders will next be subject to another sunset review in June of 2028.
Today’s action comes under the five-year (sunset) review process required by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act.
The Commission’s public report Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam (Inv. Nos. 731-TA-1064 and 1066-1068 (Third Review), USITC Publication 5432, June 2023) will contain the views of the Commission and information developed during the reviews. The report will be available by July 18, 2023; when available, it may be accessed on the USITC website at: https://www.usitc.gov/commission_publications_library.
The Uruguay Round Agreements Act requires the Department of Commerce to revoke an antidumping or countervailing duty order, or terminate a suspension agreement, after five years unless the Department of Commerce and the USITC determine that revoking the order or terminating the suspension agreement would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping or subsidies (Commerce) and of material injury (USITC) within a reasonably foreseeable time.
The Commission’s institution notice in five-year reviews requests that interested parties file responses with the Commission concerning the likely effects of revoking the order under review as well as other information. Generally within 95 days from institution, the Commission will determine whether the responses it has received reflect an adequate or inadequate level of interest in a full review. If responses to the USITC’s notice of institution are adequate, or if other circumstances warrant a full review, the Commission conducts a full review, which includes a public hearing and issuance of questionnaires.
The Commission generally does not hold a hearing or conduct further investigative activities in expedited reviews. Commissioners base their injury determination in expedited reviews on the facts available, including the Commission’s prior injury and review determinations, responses received to its notice of institution, data collected by staff in connection with the review, and information provided by the Department of Commerce.
The five-year (sunset) reviews concerning Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam were instituted on May 2, 2022.
On August 5, 2022, the Commission voted to conduct full reviews. With respect to India, Thailand, and Vietnam, USITC concluded that both the domestic and the respondent group responses were adequate and voted for full reviews. With respect to China, it concluded that the domestic group response was adequate and the respondent group response was inadequate but that circumstances warranted a full review.
The Southern Shrimp Alliance reported that in evaluating whether to continue existing trade relief on unfairly-traded imports, the ITC received a massive amount of information from the domestic shrimp industry. Nineteen different U.S. shrimp processors, estimated to account for 55% of U.S. shrimp production in 2021 measured by live-weight or nearly 88% U.S. shrimp production measured by headless, shell-on equivalent weight, provided the Commission with information regarding their operations over the last several years. These processors informed the Commission that trade relief had allowed them to operate profitability between 2019 and September 2022. Nevertheless, while showing industry-wide profits, margins were thin, with operating income ratios (as a percentage of net sales values) for the processing segment of the industry increasing from 0.9 percent in 2019 to 2.9 percent in 2020 before falling to 1.6 percent in 2021. Of the 19 processors providing the agency with information, eight told the Commission that they suffered losses on their operations in 2021.
